Regardless of your geography, regardless of your other commitments, if you’re a real Democrat and/or a real progressive looking to make an impact on the Massachusetts legislature, then there are two candidates for State Representative that you absolutely *must* support ASAP: Sabrina Heisey and Tram Nguyen. Sabrina’s battle is in the September primary, and Tram’s is in the November general. These will be two of THE most transformative elections in Massachusetts this year. We could literally replace both the most conservative Democrat in the legislature AND the most conservative Republican in the legislature this year.
Sabrina is running in a primary against the literal most conservative Democrat in the entire state legislature. The entrenched incumbent, Colleen Garry, would be a Republican anywhere else. Colleen Garry, who loves to co-sponsor and vote for right-wing transphobic, homophobic, xenophobic, and classist legislation to give it the air of bipartisanship, is anti-choice, anti-LGBTQ equality, attacks Black Lives Matter, it goes on… in a bad way. Sabrina Heisey, on the other hand, is a Dracut School Committee member, founder of the Greater Lowell League of Women Voters, a director of the Dracut Mom’s Group, a Girl Scout leader, and an adoption advocate. Her day job is a grant manager at Children’s Hospital. She’s pro-choice, pro-LGBTQ equality, pro-gun safety, it goes on… in a good way. She cares, deeply. In this Democratic primary for the 36th Middlesex district (Dracut & Tyngsborough), Sabrina Heisey would be a massive upgrade.
Meanwhile, Tram is running against one of the three or four most conservative Republicans in the entire state legislature (maybe *the* most conservative). The incumbent, Jim Lyons, was Ted Cruz’s Massachusetts campaign chairman in the 2016 GOP presidential primary, which should offer some indication of his politics. Lyons never passes on an opportunity to vilify immigrants. Lyons isn’t just anti-choice – he has voted to make it more difficult for women to get birth control. It goes on, and on, and on. Tram Nguyen, on the other hand, is a progressive legal aid attorney who knows what it means to advocate for all of us, especially the vulnerable and the voiceless. When she was five-years-old, she immigrated with her family from Vietnam. Her experiences inform her lifelong work to expand opportunity for everybody. I’ve had the chance to meet her personally, and she is a dynamo. In this general election for the 18th Essex district (parts of Andover, North Andover, Tewksbury, and Boxford), Tram Nguyen would be a massive upgrade, as well.
Again, these will be two of THE most transformative elections in Massachusetts this year. So, what am I asking? I’m urging you to Like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, sign up for their mailing lists, and DONATE – right now, any amount is amazing. And, as summer unfolds, there will be lots of opportunities to knock doors and make phone calls to voters in Dracut & Tyngsborough, and Andover, North Andover, Tewksbury, and Boxford. Get involved and you can make our state legislature markedly more progressive!
Sabrina Heisey’s website: http://sabrinaheisey.com/
Like Sabrina on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SabrinaHeisey/
Follow Sabrina on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sabrinaheisey
Tram Nguyen’s website: http://votetram.com/
Like Tram on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeamTram.MA/
Follow Tram on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TeamTram
I’m so glad we’re getting traction in the 18th Essex district. Jim Lyons is far to the right of the voters in this district, and we can win this seat if we have the volunteers at the doors.
The interesting thing about Heisey’s race; while the district itself appears to be conservative (Trump won both towns), it went for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential primary. Heisey was a strong Bernie supporter.
Dracut: Clinton 2035, Sanders 2762
Tyngsborough: Clinton 872, Sanders 1026
District total: Clinton 2907, Sanders 3788
I must say that I wonder how much of that primary support for Bernie Sanders was Trump supporters pulling Democratic ballots to express their hostility to Ms. Clinton.
The district doesn’t just appear to be conservative. The district has chosen Ms. Garry eleven times (she was first elected in 1994). Ms. Garry has been an extreme right-wing conservative for as long as she’s been in the public eye, and makes no secret of her views.
I hope that Ms. Heisey is able to defeat Ms. Garry in the primary. The district deserves better.
This is fairly baseless Tom:
I must say that I wonder how much of that primary support for Bernie Sanders was Trump supporters pulling Democratic ballots to express their hostility to Ms. Clinton.
Particularly since MA had a competitive Republican primary and the Trump supporters were going to pull their ballot for him. To the extent that some unenrolled voters were or are torn between Trump and Bernie that should be an argument in favor of an anti-establishment progressive approach to populism rather than doubling down on the pro-globalization message that led to double digit swings from Barack Obama to Donald Trump.
Hillary and Romney both blamed downscale voters for their loss and their lack of embracing innovation as the reason they are poor. Obama and Sanders both ran on promises to bring jobs, healthcare, and government back to those struggling communities. I think we also forget that Trump ran to the left of the GOP field on economic issues to great success. Promising single payer and expanding social security in some debates.
He also ran against the Iraq War which she never apologized for voting for and ran against a Syrian intervention which she promised to be more hawkish than Obama on.
I know you admire the Clintons and I proudly voted for Hillary since she embraced the Sanders platform as her own and would have worked to enact it as President. We are living in a disaster right now that would have been avoided had she won. But blaming Sanders supporters for Trump while exonerating the Third Way is a guaranteed way to ensure a second term of the insane clown posse. You can dislike Sanders all you want and there are good reasons he should not run again, but there is a reason every credible Democrat thinking of running is embracing his policy agenda and populist rhetoric. They know it is electorally powerful and the only way back to power.
My comment had nothing to do with my feelings towards Mr. Sanders or Ms. Clinton, and everything to do my first-hand experience from living in the district (I lived in Dunstable from 1886 to 1998, and Dunstable was part of that district when it was formed in 1994).
I specifically responded to this line:
“The interesting thing about Heisey’s race; while the district itself appears to be conservative (Trump won both towns), it went for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential primary. Heisey was a strong Bernie supporter.”
This is a Red district that has enthusiastically embraced the Garry/Trump agenda for decades. I’m not “blaming Sanders supporters for Trump”, I’m saying that I know the district — I suspect better than you — and this is not a district that likes anything at all about the Sanders agenda.
I invite you to walk through the agenda of Mr. Sanders, item by item, and look at how Ms. Garry and the voters of the district have responded to those items. I think you’ll find that this district adamantly and loudly opposes each and every one.
I ask you to please consider the possibility that in this district, a portion of the strength of support for Mr. Sanders was from Garry/Trump supports who pulled a primary ballot to oppose Ms. Clinton (knowing full well that she would easily win the state’s nomination).
I sincerely hope that Ms. Heisey wins this primary. I hope that the district has, in fact, changed and that the Bernie Sanders agenda is taking root in this district.
Fair points and I ask forgiveness for my jump to conclusions. The morning coffee was brewing and not yet in my cup. I do think a Sanders style, or what I prefer to call it, a Roosevelt style Democrat can compete in these blue collar districts more effectively than the kind of wonky technocratic Democrat we have been nominating at the statewide and national level these last few cycles.
It is less about ideology more about rhetoric. Saying billionaires have too much power and we need to take it back from them is a lot more effective than a laundry list of policies tackling income inequality.. A lot of the differences between candidates this cycle has everything to do with style and communication rather than substance or ideology. I think there are few Democrats running to the right or even the middle anymore, which is a good thing.
I do think there are a lot of establishment Democrats running post-partisan campaigns that emphasize cooperation and a lot of outsiders running to seize power from the elite. I think the latter will do better than the former this cycle. So I am confident she can bring energy to this primary challenge similar to the kind that toppled Tim Toomey and Joe Shortsleeve. It is also important to remember that Toomey was protected for many years by an educated electorate that was not engaged locally or assumed the D meant he was a progressive. Garry’s district could be similar. I also suspect it has changed as Lowell has changed, with an influx of immigrants and young professionals who will be turned off by this record.
No forgiveness asked nor needed. We’re all on the same team and pursuing the same ends.
CD3 candidate Alexandra Chandler endorsed Heisey today. It’s obvious why Heisey would be Chandler’s personal preference, but I find it odd politically that a congressional candidate would endorse in a State House race.